Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E171-E172]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ANNIVERSARY OF ANTI-ARMENIAN POGROMS IN AZERBAIJAN
______
HON. JAMIE RASKIN
of maryland
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, this year we honor the memory of hundreds
of ethnic Armenians killed--and hundreds of thousands displaced--
between 1988 and 1990 in brutal and violent pogroms in Azerbaijan. In
the 1980s, citizens in Azerbaijan of Armenian heritage embarked on one
of the first pro-democracy movements against the Soviet Empire, calling
for self-determination, fair treatment, and an end to discrimination.
This pro-democracy movement was met with extreme brutality in waves of
pogroms and forced deportations of Armenians from Azerbaijan. Mobs
violently attacked ethnic Armenians in the cities of Sumgait in late
February 1988, Kirovabad in November 1988, and the capital, Baku, in
January 1990.
For three days in February 1988, mobs murdered, raped, assaulted,
and burned alive ethnic Armenians. This came as the result of years and
decades of anti-Armenian rhetoric and policies engineered by the
Azerbaijani government, contributing to a lethal climate of
dehumanization, racism, and religious intolerance.
Despite an international outcry, including bipartisan resolutions,
statements and letters from concerned members of Congress, the violence
continued. Between 1988 and 1990, according to human rights
organizations, an estimated 300,000 to 350,000 Armenians fled
Azerbaijan under threat of violence or were deported. The failure of
the government to legitimately address simple democratic demands, and
the violent response to largely peaceful movements, fueled a spiral of
reactionary intercommunal violence and prolonged armed conflict in the
region. Today, I stand to remember and honor all of those killed,
wounded and displaced in these anti-Armenian pogroms.
The lessons of the events of 1988 to 1990 are obviously acutely
relevant as we look around the world today. Ethnic and religious hatred
that foments violence is on the rise--the Rohingya in Burma have been
slaughtered, Uighur Muslims in China are being put in concentration
camps because of their religion, and tens of thousands of Jehovah's
Witnesses have been declared extremists in Russia for following their
peaceful religion.
[[Page E172]]
When human beings are denied their universal freedoms, and when
governments put in place dehumanizing rhetoric, policies, and laws;
then hatred, violence, and suffering follow. I urge my colleagues to
stand with me in recognition of the plight suffered by ethnic Armenians
thirty years ago and to stand vigilant against the use of ethnic and
religious hatred to stir violence against minorities here in the United
States and around the world.
____________________
